So, months and months ago, I wrote a little review about the movie "Expelled" which is a sort of documentary (with heavy biases) about how the scientific community treats scientists who believe in any notion of Intelligent Design. I enjoyed the flick. It made me think about evolution in a way I never had before. I didn't elaborate on my particular beliefs regarding evolution vs. intelligent design in the post, but one of the comments way back then asked me what my opinion is. Honestly, I've been meaning to do a short post on it ever since. So, Jessica, if you still read my blog, forgive me for taking so long to respond.
I do find this an interesting topic. Being LDS, I do believe that God created the universe, so already, I subscribe to some form of intelligent design. The question remains if or how much evolution played a part in the creation of this world though. I used to be of the opinion that because God tends to work in natural ways, evolution was the means by which He created the world. Being that there is much evidence leaning toward some sort of evolutionary process, I didn't see why He would try to deceive us with the evidence of it happening, when in fact, it did not at all. Not only that, but it's interesting to note that the order of the creation story is the same order that evolution claims animals evolved. I am not sure that's just happy coincidence. However, as LDS's, the one piece of doctrine regarding evolution we have been given is that man didn't evolve from ape. In my former way of thinking I decided God used evolution to create all species and then stopped at the most advanced form of ape, I suppose, and then created man of His own likeness. This was somewhat inconsistent to me, but I had nothing better to go off of.
I was never really exposed to the idea of macro evolution vs. micro evolution before I watched this movie. Cut me some slack, please. The last biology class I took was AP Biology in 10th grade, so it's not like I had some comprehensive education on the matter anyway. For those few who may be as clueless as I was on the subject, macro evolution is essentially the idea that one species evolved from another species, and on and on, as suggested by Darwin. Micro evolution suggests, essentially, that a species changes and adapts within its own species but never evolves into a completely new species.
I think I believe more in micro evolution these days. No one has ever witnessed a species actually evolve into another species, so there is no real empirical evidence for it. There is, however, a lot of evidence, that supports species changing within their own kind. That would be hard to refute. This accounts for a lot of the evidence that implies some sort of evolutionary process did occur, and it would be more consistent than that God created everything via macro evolution, except man. Couldn't it be that He created everything individually for its own purposes and allowed each species to evolve, adapt, etc. to its ever-changing environment, just like LDS believe man has done? I think it's a pretty plausible solution, especially when you see how much macro evolution has become a vehicle for some many people to become atheists, even though that isn't necessarily what Darwin believed or intended for others to believe. However, Satan likes to take anything that is true and twist it for his own designs, so I don't know why evolution wouldn't be any different.
In any case, I am not dead set on my opinion, and it could change again as I learn more. It's one of those mysteries that is interesting to contemplate, but not important for me to know right here, right now. Anyone want to weigh on this one?
2 comments:
1: Micro evolution is much easier to observe directly in species populations than macro-evolution, as micro-evolution proceeds faster.
2: Given the sequence of the fossil records, to discount macro-evolution would mean that God must have produced a given species, waited a bit and then independently placed a similar species on earth. Wikipedia (extinction article) estimates that 99.9% of all species in the history of earth are currently extinct. There are today about 1.5 million named species, with scientists estimating the actual number of species alive today between 2 and 100 million. (http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2003/FelixNisimov.shtml) That places the total number of species on earth between 1.5 and 100 billion. obviously these are rough estimates, but this would require a very constant stream of new species being created from nothing by God. Now, I certainly don't see any reason why God couldn't so it. He certainly could. But with the preponderance of evidence that species do evolve, I don't see any compelling reason to believe in 10 billion distinct species creation events. (Besides, what would it look like when animals were created, rather than evolved? Two wildebeest just show up on the Serengeti one day and start reproducing? And two gazelles show up a few years later?)
I think that micro evolution and macro evolution both exist and happen. I also have no problem with man evolving from apes, which sounds very un-LDS of me, I know.
One thing I know for sure: we don't know all the specifics. We just don't. And that tells me that we aren't supposed to. How man physically came to be on the earth is not the most important part of the gospel.
Post a Comment